I go to my room. Get a shirt and the Glock.
THE ARTIFACTS ARE still piled on the desk when I come back to the office. Sinclair is slumped in his chair near the pill bottles. Sandoval is hunched in her desk chair like a cranky gargoyle.
I say, “Where’s Howard?”
“He’s not coming,” she says. “We have other things to talk about.”
“Like what?”
“The assassination attempt on me tonight. I’m not going to sit by and let them kill me like the others.”
“Great. Good luck with that. What does it have to do with me?”
She points a perfectly manicured finger at me.
“You’re going to get the people that did this tonight.”
I walk to the desk.
“That’s not my job. I did my job. I’m not expecting flowers for it, but I do expect you to honor our deal.”
She picks up a necklace made of finger bones. The chain holding them together is broken, so they all fall off. She pushes the bones into a pile with the other artifacts.
“I’m going to honor it, but circumstances have changed.”
“Changed how? Did something happen to Howard?”
“He’s fine. What’s changed is that, while you might have saved the city from obliteration, you’ve made me the faction’s target.”
“Lady, you’ve been their target since day one. Tonight would have happened with or without me.”
“Not like this,” she says. “You have to pay for what happened.”
“Pay how? And bear in mind that you’re talking to a man who killed fifteen people earlier and a few more just now. Let’s call it an even twenty.”
“Calm down, Stark,” says Sinclair. “There’s no need for threats. Just listen to her.”
I pull the Glock and shoot the water bottle on the table with his pills.
“Keep quiet. This is between Eva and me.”
Sandoval looks at Sinclair, then up at me.
“Our original understanding was that you were to stop the destruction of Los Angeles before Sunday. You’ve done that. And bully for you. However, it’s still Friday night, which gives you plenty of time to find the faction’s leaders and— since you’re so fond of doing it—kill them all.”
“That wasn’t our deal.”
“This is a new deal.”
I go around the desk and pull Sandoval to her feet.
“Even if I was interested, how do I know you’ll stick to this new deal?”
She says, “Because I want you gone as much as you want to be gone.”
I put the Glock to her head.
“Hurry, Eva. Convince me.”